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Wisconsin Company Will Let Employees Use Microchip Implants To Buy Snacks, Open Doors (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the inject-at-your-own-risk dept.

A Wisconsin company called Three Square Market will soon offer employees implantable chips to open doors, buy snacks, log in to computers, and use office equipment like copy machines. The chips use near field communication (NFC) technology and will be implanted between the thumb and forefinger of participating employees. According to The Verge, around 50 people are supposedly getting the optional implants. From the report: NFC chips are already used in a couple of workplaces in Europe; The Los Angeles Times reported on startup workspace Epicenter's chip program earlier this year. In the US, installing them is also a form of simple biohacking. They're essentially an extension of the chips you'd find in contactless smart cards or microchipped pets: passive devices that store very small amounts of information. A Swedish rail company also lets people use implants as a substitute for fare cards. 32M CEO Todd Westby is clearly trying to head off misunderstandings and paranoia by saying that they contain "no GPS tracking at all" -- because again, it's comparable to an office keycard here.

5 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Health Issues? by ELCouz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What happen if health complications exist after implantation? Employer pay for that?

  2. Severance? by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So what happens when you're fired, quit, retire, or otherwise leave this company's employment? Surgery to remove the implant? Who pays for that?

  3. Who in their right mind!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Who in their right mind would let their employer implant them with a microchip of any kind. or implant them with anything at all

  4. Re:Enough Already! by ma1wrbu5tr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As long as it remains "will let" and does not transition to "will require", I have no problem with this.

    --
    Why can't we go back to using jumpers to configure slot adapter cards? Why? I say!
  5. Re: Enough Already! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's not required, it's just that you'll be shunned and blackballed for rocking the boat in essence since there are plenty of team players we could hire that would love to save the company money and aggregate thier authority to a plantable tracking, error I mean passive, ya that's right, I mean passive, device.